Us, now
by xymox
Summary: It's been 80 years since Bo last saw Lauren. One shot that popped into my head yesterday. Kinda a sequel to Us, but you don't need to have read that one first. Stream of thought from my head to the story, no editing, so apologies for typos or any inconsistencies.


Walking in to the ballroom, I keep my eyes straight ahead as I feel everyone's gaze turn towards me. It doesn't even faze me any more. For years I soaked up the attention, loved being the one everyone wanted, everyone craved. But one day it changed. I hated all the eyes on me, undressing me, thinking of all the things they wanted to do with me, to me. Hated it because the one set of eyes I wanted more than anything weren't there, they weren't watching me. I had no idea where they were anymore. Alive, dead, who knows. Probably dead, because it had been close to 80 years and humans didn't live that long. But she was the smartest person I ever knew, I wouldn't put it past her to have found a way to change the laws of nature, to become more than human. But thinking about that just made the ache deeper. If she was still alive, that was even more time that we weren't together. Separated because I was a young, immature ass afraid of love.

I know this now, but it took nearly 30 years to learn. 30 years of fighting with Dyson, Tamsin, Rainier, Kenzi, Trick and myself. 30 years to realize that what was right before me was all I ever really wanted and I let it leave. Hell, I chased it away with a cold heart. I know why she left. She was right to leave. Doesn't change the fact that I have missed her every day for the past seventy nine years, seven months and 24 days.

I have been alone for close to 50 of them now. I finally got the courage to say no to Dyson. Turns out it wasn't as hard as I thought. If only I had done it 30 years earlier. We still spoke on occasion, but he was married to a nice little water nymph now and had 2 kids. I was happy for him. Tamsin I lost touch with long before that. I don't know what ever happened to her, but my guess is she finished her last cycle and was hanging with Odin in the Great Hall, drinking all his good booze. Rainier, well, we won't even go into what a fuck up that was. Kenzi, my best friend and sister had passed away several years ago. It devastated me and I still cried for her at night. She had ended up marrying Nate after all, had 2 great kids that were the highlights of my life now. They were both grown and had families of their own, so I didn't see them much, but I always made an effort and made sure they were doing well.

I don't mind being alone as much as I thought I would, as much as it scared me when I was with her.

Her. God, I can't even say her name anymore. She has become this concept to me, this thing I yearn for, this dream I chase. The reality of why I choose to live alone now. Sure, I am still a succubus and I still need to feed, to heal on occasion. But I am older and in control of myself now. In 50 years I have never been with the same person more than once, never brought anyone home to my bed, never shared a romantic dinner or an intimate look. She accepts it too. My inner succubus knows what she has lost, remembers what it was like when she first met my love. That was a long time ago now, we are both resigned to feeding for need, not for want and certainly not for love.

I finally make it to the bar, thankful that most of the people have gone back to their own conversations and the attention has moved off of me. I don't like people looking at me like I am good for one thing only. I want someone to look at me like she did, except I know that will never happen because she isn't here anymore. Maybe someday I will find something close, a reasonable facsimile and I will be okay with that. Okay is about all I expect these days.

I order a beer and look around. Everyone is all dressed up in their fancy dresses and tuxedos and not one of them do anything for me. I wish I wasn't here, but my boss felt it was good to meet some of the clients we have. I am an investigator, I don't need to know who I am working for; that is Hale's job. It's a partnership that has been working well for 75 years. He is really my only friend now and I cherish that. Except when he makes me get dressed up and come to things like this. Fortunately it was a rare occurrence, so I tolerated it for him. Sipping my beer I watch the various couples and can't help but smile. I have become romantic and sentimental in my old age. Okay, I am only 110 years old, which is still a baby in fae years, but still, it is a pretty long time.

I turn back to the bar to put my beer down to look for Hale when I sense it. Even after 80 years, I would know it anywhere. It's a little different….a little stronger and a little…bluer, but it is definitely hers.

I feel panic flood through my body. Interesting, that is not what I imagined I would have felt when ending up in this position, but there it is. It's been 80 years. How is she alive? What if she doesn't remember me? What if she does and she still doesn't want anything to do with me? I have spent 50 years apologizing to her, making up for my indiscretions and bad behavior, but that has all been within myself. She doesn't know this. The last she knew of me I was an immature ass who didn't know what or who the hell she wanted.

Suddenly the room is too small and too hot and too much and I need to leave. I can't see her, it would break me. It would break everything I have tried so hard to build up for the past 80 years. Pathetic I know, but it was how I got through it, how I got past the last 8 decades without her.

I take three long strides towards the doors leading to the balcony and freeze in my tracks. She is right in front of me. Staring at me like she has seen a ghost. I am sure I have the same expression on my face.

Neither one of us move, we just continue to stare. My heart is pounding in my chest and it is all I can hear. There are no other people, there is no music, there is only her and I. And my god does she look incredible. She hasn't aged a day since the last time I saw her. Well, maybe that isn't true, she has some small lines around her eyes that I know weren't there before, and her eyes look weary, they didn't have that same sparkle they did when we were together. I know my eyes didn't sparkle as much anymore either. Maybe she missed me too?

It seems like forever and we both remain motionless, staring at each other.

The music plays on, but still we stare.

There are people moving all around us, but we pay them no attention, our eyes focused only on each other.

I feel the succubus in me rising up. I wasn't the only one who missed her. She missed her too, though in a much different way. I missed the love, the companionship, the cuddles and the support. I missed the smiles and the cute way she geeked out, the way she watched me when she thought I was asleep, the way she protected my heart. She missed her hands, her body, her lips, her tongue. She missed the way she moaned when we kissed that spot right above her thigh, the abandon she loved us with, the passion that was always between us. The way she made our body come alive.

My eyes flash blue and I give her control. At least one of us seems capable of doing something besides standing here in shock. I can feel Her growl inside of me and She quickly closes the distance between us. Reaching her, She doesn't say a word, but bends down and scoops her up in to our arms. Interesting, wasn't expecting this. And neither was she since she lets out a little yelp of surprise, but thankfully doesn't try to pull away. She looks silently in to my blazing eyes, and I can tell she knows who is in control right now. She isn't afraid, she never was.

Pushing through the crowd, I kick open the door to the balcony with my foot and growl at the guy outside grabbing a smoke. I guess a blue eyed growling succubus is a scary sight since he quickly puts out his cigarette and runs inside, apologizing profusely.

Her arms are around my neck and she is so warm in my arms I never want to put her down, but I do, letting her legs drop gently to the ground. She doesn't take her arms off of my neck though, which gives me hope. So far though, neither of us has said a word.

I try and pull back my succubus, but she isn't ready to let go.

Leaning forward, she presses our lips together and I thought I was going to die. The second they touched it was like a thousand fireworks going off in my soul. Her lips were as soft as I remember them, and as they slowly react to mine, I feel every emotion for the past 80 years come roaring up and I deepen the kiss, parting my lips to let her tongue enter my mouth.

This was a dream, it had to be a dream. There was no way she was alive and here and kissing me with such love and abandon. It had to be a dream.

My hands moved up to wrap around her waist, pulling her in even closer as the kiss went on.

I have no idea how long it lasted, maybe hours, maybe days? When we finally pulled apart, our eyes met again and I saw the pain she had been carrying, I saw the tears start to fall. I reached up to brush them away, kissing the corner of her eyes where they had started from.

I had so many questions, and I didn't want to ask any of them right now. How was she still alive, what had she been doing, was she single. I definitely didn't want to know the answer to the last one. I didn't want to talk at all, I wanted to take her back to my apartment and make love to her. Her aura was off the charts, but I had no idea if that would be welcomed. The desire was never the problem. Even when we fought, she was always burning for me. No, it wasn't the desire that was lacking, it was the trust and communication.

My succubus sensed that she wasn't what Lauren needed right now, not what we needed to move past this, so she took a step back and I felt my eyes settle back to their normal brown. Finally having some courage to speak, I put all my cards on the table. Eighty years was a long time, and if she was going to walk away from me, I wanted it to be quick.

"I love you, Lauren. I always have."

She looked back at me, tears building up in her eyes again. I wanted to reach out and touch her, to wipe them away, to hold and comfort her for the rest of her life, but I was unsure. Unsure how much of the past she held on to, unsure if she wanted a future.

"Take me back to your place, Bo. Make love to me. It's been too long."

I felt the smile light up my face at her words, and I didn't need to be asked twice. I scooped her up in my arms again, and carried her through the crowded ballroom to my car. We would talk tomorrow, I would pour my heart out to her, beg her forgiveness, ask her what she had been doing for the past 80 years, find out how she was alive. I would do all of those things tomorrow. But tonight, tonight she was right. It had been too long.


End file.
